


This Star of Heaven

by mresundance



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Drama, Dreams, Historical, Holocaust, M/M, Memories, Mythology - Freeform, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-10
Updated: 2011-08-10
Packaged: 2017-10-22 11:11:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mresundance/pseuds/mresundance
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"This one was made for you. He is your match."</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Star of Heaven

**Author's Note:**

> Reposted; I had some things to tweak and no time to tweak it earlier.

The night before he met Charles, Erik dreamt about lean, angry coils of barbed wire; of sallow skinned children; of indelible numbers burnt into forearms like cattle brands. Of his mother, brittle and dry as grass after summer had scorched everything.

There were faint stars too, silver as nail-heads, though he didn't remember stars in Auschwitz. He remembered that so much ash clotted the sky the sun burned crimson and a carrion heavy stench permeated the air.

In his dream, one of the stars fell, thudding to earth in front of him. A dark lump no bigger than a man's fist. His body swayed towards the star; it pulled on him, a sensation which began low in his belly and groin. He felt himself stiffen, as if from arousal.

Shaw purred into his ear _lift it_ and Erik tried. His body arched like a bow, bending currents until the air pulsed with it. He felt sweat, slippery down his spine. But the star remained fixed where it was.

Shaw had gone, but his mother remained. She put her hand on Erik's shoulder and he noticed he was much taller than her.

"Mama, it won't move," he said.

"It's a lodestone," she said. "And it is your brother."

"I don't have a brother."

"This one was made for you. He is your match." Crouching, she brushed fingers across the star's metallic surface. "He is your friend. You will love him."

Erik snorted. "Mama, people don't love rocks."

"He will help you when you need it."

"I don't need help."

His mother's smile sagged with sorrow and weariness.

He woke before he had time to explain; she should know better than to depend upon other people. Depending upon other people was the path to ruin.

But his room was empty and his mother was not with him anymore. The vapor of the dream had dissipated.

Erik decided to forget about the dream; it was nonsense the way all dreams were.

**Author's Note:**

> Just a slight re-telling of my favorite sequence from my favorite mythic poem, [The Epic of Gilgamesh](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epic_of_Gilgamesh).
> 
> Gilgamesh, a great king, abuses his power in various ways. His maligned subjects turn the gods for help. The gods decide to create his equal, someone who would become Gilgamesh's companion and curb the worst of his behavior. In the myth, Gilgamesh dreams of his companion before they meet. He goes to his mother and she tells him the meaning of his dreams.
> 
> In the original text, his mother tells him he will love his companion "like a woman" (!) which . . . is kind of explicit.
> 
> I used the N. K. Sandars translation for this because I find it the most poetic and moving, though it is not the best translation available.
> 
> If you haven't read it, you should. It's the gayest most epic love story ever and it's around 4,000 years old.


End file.
